The Cooper-Winkle collaboration
by ynotlleb
Summary: In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Everything belongs to Chuck Lorre and friends.
1. Gablehauser

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2.**_

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After a Caltech seminar had degenerated into a slanging match between Dr. Cooper and Dr. Winkle both Sheldon and Leslie ended up in Professor Gablehauser's office.

"What am I supposed to do with you, two respectable scientists arguing like children."

"It's her fault, all she needs to know that String Theory is a much better description of the universe than Quantum Loop Gravity."

"Listen Dumbass, we don't need your string to explain things."

"BE QUIET children. I am no expert on either of your theories."

"No surprise there!"

"This time I agree with you Dumbass."

"I want the two of you to collaborate and write a popular science article comparing and contrasting your two theories."

"You want us to dumb it down so you can understand it Professor?"

"I want you two to bring a draft article in two weeks. You can show it to me and I can help you get it published in Scientific American."

"I have had two papers in 'Science' and one in 'Nature' in the last four years and now Professor Dumbass wants me to write for 'Scientific American', whoopee."

"Good afternoon to you Dr. Cooper and Dr. Winkle."

Sheldon and Leslie left Gablehauser's office.

"I suppose you will be at the Cheesecake Factory tonight?"

"I will be there with Howard, see you later Dumbass."

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That evening at the Cheesecake Factory Bernadette is talking to Penny

"Who is that lady with those 4 nerdy guys Penny?"

"She's called Leslie, works with Leonard. Somehow she has hooked up with that little Jewish guy Howard!"

"Howard has a girlfriend?"

"I'll go and take their order, can you go to table 7, I think they are ready to order."

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Over dinner Leslie and Sheldon had a talk about their article

"I have a suggestion about our article Dumbass."

"Please enlighten me Dr. Winkle."

"I will write a dumbed down article on String Theory and you can write on Quantum Loop Gravity. Then we can correct each other's mistakes and see about joining the two halves together."

"You assume I will make mistakes Dr. Winkle. Very well, we should email each other over the weekend. The sooner we get this out of the way the better."

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Two weeks later in Gablehauser's office.

"I must congratulate you two, this is an excellent article. We should have no problem getting this published in 'Scientific American'."

"Well that's what this University is all about, educating lesser minds."

"Good one Dumbass..."


	2. Monopole

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 2, Sheldon's announcement.**_

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The Scientific American article was published a month later and it was a great success. Both Sheldon and Leslie got lots of positive feedback.

"Hey Dumbass, looks like we did a good job on that article for Gablehauser. Howard told me last night he finally has an idea about what we are talking about."

"We dumbed it down to the level even an engineer could understand it."

"I got an email from a friend at Princeton, she is going to look into the possible theoretical combination of String Theory and Quantum Loop Gravity."

"Tell her not to waste her time, String Theory is clearly the better explanation of the universe..."

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Two weeks later Sheldon walked into 4A on a Friday evening. Penny, Leonard, Howard, Leslie and Raj had just started eating Chinese food.

"Hello everybody, I have some exciting news, I have just had a meeting with President Siebert. Penny get out of my spot."

"So what's the news Dumbass."

"I have just got some funding from the National Science Foundation for a 3-month expedition to the Magnetic North Pole to look for monopoles, who wants to come with me?"

Howard "Not me, I am staying here with Leslie."

Sheldon "Anyone else, how about you Leonard?"

Before Leonard could speak Penny took his hand and said "Please don't leave me Leonard, I couldn't face 3 months without you."

Leonard "I am sure it would be scientifically very interesting but you at the North Pole? You do know we have the finest climate in the world here in Southern California? Anyway, I am staying here with Penny."

Sheldon "How about you Raj" but Raj shook his head.

Leslie "Before you ask Sheldon I am not coming either. Leonard is right, how would you survive up there in that cold weather, you wouldn't last five minutes Dumbass. I agree it would be scientifically very exciting but you should just design the equipment and get people properly trained for the cold to do the experiments. I am sure Howard would be glad to help with the engineering."

Sheldon "As much as I hate to say it you are right Leslie. I hated the cold when I was in Germany."

Penny "OK, the gang is all staying here for the summer, your Chinese food is getting cold Sheldon."


	3. Challenge

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 3, Sheldon's challenge.**_

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The monopole search at the Magnetic North Pole was fruitless, Sheldon was glad his friends had talked him out of 3 months of cold and snow. Sheldon decided to look into some other theoretical ideas away from String Theory. He gave a seminar on some of his new ideas towards the end of the year, at the end of the seminar he asked for questions.

"Well Dumbass, looks like after giving up on String Theory your new theoretical ideas are just as useless."

"You wouldn't know a good theory if it hit you in the face."

"Typical arrogant behaviour from the man who claims he never makes mistakes."

"Now, now Dr. Winkle, let us act like respectable scientists. My new theory is obviously a brilliant new description of the universe."

"It's only a theory Dr. Cooper."

"Well you are the experimentalist Dr. Winkle."

"That I am, somebody who once worked here said '_if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong_'."

"So are you going to do an experiment Dr. Winkle?"

"Just you watch me Dr. Cooper!"

"I look forward to seeing the results when you prove me right..."

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Five months later the first results came in from Leslie's experiments. They proved that Sheldon's idea was right but his theory was just a special case, in reality things were a lot more complicated than either of them thought.

"So what do you make of these results Dumbass?"

"As Mr. Spock would say '_fascinating_!', I believe I owe you an apology Dr. Winkle."

"I believer I also owe you an apology Dr. Cooper."

"Thank you Leslie."

"You are welcome Sheldon."

"Are you going to do more experiments?"

"Yes, I have some ideas for a bigger experiment, Leonard is going to give me a hand. I have a new grad student starting in the fall, this will make a great project for her PhD work."

"I will make a start on a paper this weekend, I should have a draft for your comments early next week."

"This is going to be fun..."


	4. Experiment

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 4, another experiment.**_

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One week later Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard are all eating lunch in the Caltech canteen.

Sheldon "I have a meeting with Gablehauser, I am leaving now" and he got up and left the room.

Howard then spoke to Raj

"How was the date last night?"

"Not good dude, I need to be drunk to talk to women but for some reason this doesn't give a good first impression."

"You need to get your Dating Site to find you alcoholic women."

"Very funny."

Then Leslie turned up

"Hi guys, hi Howard."

"Hello Leslie"

"Have you seen Sheldon, I need to talk to him about our paper."

Leonard "you just missed him, he has a meeting with Gablehauser."

Leslie "So what are you guys talking about?"

Howard "Raj was telling me about how he uses a Dating Site to try a girlfriend."

Leslie "Ah well, we don't need those any more" as she kissed Howard on the cheek.

Howard "I have a great idea, let's use Raj's site to find a girlfriend for Sheldon?"

Leslie "This I must see, you really think there is someone out there for our Dumbass."

Leonard "Well Dr. Winkle, we shall have to do an experiment to find out..."

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One week later Sheldon, Raj and Howard enter a coffee shop

Sheldon "In a few minutes, when I gloat over the failure of this enterprise, how would you prefer I do it? The standard I told you so? The classic neener-neener? Or just my normal look of haughty derision?"

Raj "You don't know we're wrong yet."

Sheldon "Haughty derision it is."

Amy "Excuse me. I'm Amy Farrah Fowler. You're Sheldon Cooper. I recognise you from the picture in 'Scientific American'..."


	5. Date

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 5, a double date.**_

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Sheldon "Excuse me. Oh. Amy's at the dry cleaners, and she's made a very amusing pun. "I don't care for perchloroethylene, and I don't like glycol ether." Get it? She doesn't like glycol ether. Sounds like either. L-O-L."

Penny "Who's Amy?"

Leonard "His girlfriend."

Penny "Sheldon has a girlfriend?"

Sheldon "She's not my girlfriend."

Penny "How long has this been going on?"

Leonard "Four months."

Sheldon "She's not my girlfriend."

Penny "Are you telling me, for the past four months I have been asking you what's new and you never thought to go with Sheldon has a girlfriend?"

Sheldon "She's not my girlfriend."

Penny "Ah, du-du-du-du-du. How did they meet?"

Howard "Raj, Leslie and I entered Sheldon's information on a dating site, and it spit out Amy Farrah Fowler."

Penny "Oh, my God! Sheldon and Amy."

Howard "Or, as we call them, Shamy."

Penny "Shamy. I am so digging the Shamy. So Sheldon, what do the Shamy do together?"

Sheldon "My friend Amy and I just communicate by text and email."

Penny "What about dating?"

Sheldon "Why would we want to do that?"

Leslie "I have a suggestion Dumbass, Howard and I helped you meet with Amy. How about the two of you come on a double date with us. We would love to meet this lady."

Sheldon "Very well, I shall send Amy a text message."

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Three days later, Sheldon introduces Amy to his friends.

"Amy, these are my friends. This is Dr. Leslie Winkle, she is a physicist at Caltech. Her boyfriend is Howard Wolowitz, he's only an engineer and he doesn't have a PhD but he means well. Leslie and Howard meet Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler."

Leslie "Good to meet another lady with a doctorate, what is your field Dr. Fowler?"

Amy "Neurobiology, I study the brain, far more important work than what you do."

Howard "Nice to meet you Amy, I am an aerospace engineer, I build things that fly in space."

Amy "How cute."

Leslie "I never thought I would ever go on a double date with Dr. Dumbass and his girlfriend."

Amy "That is not a nice thing to say about Sheldon!"

Leslie "You are right, there was a time when Sheldon was not such a good friend as he is now and I used to use that term as an insult. It is probably not an appropriate thing to say at a social gathering."

Sheldon "Thank you Dr. Winkle."

Howard "OK, I can see the waiter, what food should we order?..."


	6. Cheesecake

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 6, Cheesecake Factory**_

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A week after the Double Date Leslie entered Sheldon's office.

"Good afternoon Dr. Cooper, I would like to introduce my new graduate student, she is going to work on extending the experimental work arising from your theory."

"Hello Dr. Cooper, I am Rebecca Rodriguez. I recognise you from the picture in 'Scientific American'."

"Hello to you Ms. Rodriguez, where were before Caltech?"

"I did my first degree at Rice University in Texas."

"Texas, my home state, are you a Texan?"

"Yes, I was born in Austin."

"I am from Galveston, welcome to California, l look forward to seeing the results of your experiments."

"I am looking forward to doing the experiments."

"Oh Leslie, I got the reviewers comments back from our paper, just a few minor things for you and Leonard to look at in the experimental section. I have just emailed the comments to you, we should soon get this one published."

"No problem, are you coming to the Cheesecake Factory tonight?"

"Yes, I am bringing Amy to meet the others."

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That evening at the Cheesecake Factory Bernadette is talking to Penny

"Penny, those 4 nerdy guys now have two women with them, what is going on?"

"Sheldon, the annoying skinny one, has brought Amy to meet the others."

"Howard is still with that Leslie I see. OK, I will go and serve Table 9, you can go serve your friends."

Meanwhile Sheldon introduces Amy to his friends.

"Amy this is Dr. Leonard Hoftstadter, he's another Physicist and my roommate."

"Good evening Dr. Hofstadter"

"This is Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali, another Physicist."

"Ah yes, Sheldon's Indian friend who can't talk to women. Hello Dr. Koothrappali, I would like to study your brain some time."

Then Penny walked up to the table.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Penny, what can I get for you this evening?"

"Amy, meet our friend Penny, she lives across the hall from me and Leonard."

"Hello Penny, I like your hair..."


	7. Harp

**_In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 7, Amy joins the group._**

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A couple of weeks after the Double Date Sheldon and Amy collected the Friday night Chinese food and brought it to 4A for the rest of the gang.

Amy didn't say much as they were eating, she still didn't know the others that well. They chatted away about work and science fiction and computer games. Then Leslie changed the subject

"Hey Leonard, they are starting the Caltech orchestra again, rehearsals start next week for a concert in 3 months time. How's your cello playing these days?"

"It's been a while since I played it, I had better get it out of storage."

Then Amy suddenly spoke "Do you need to work at Caltech to join this orchestra, as you know I work at UCLA. I play the harp."

Leslie "No problem, friends of Caltech employees can join, we haven't had a harpist for years."

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One month later

"Hey Sheldon, Amy came to the orchestra rehearsals again last night, she's pretty good on the harp."

"Good for all us that you got us together, she is enjoying having more friends since she got to know me."

"You're welcome Dr. Cooper."

"Thank you Dr. Winkle. How is your student Rebecca doing with her research?"

"Well it's going slowly, you know what it's like as a first year grad student, it rarely works first time."

"I didn't have that problem for either of my PhDs."

"That doesn't surprise me. Anyway she is still keen and enthusiastic, she is starting another experiment next week."

"I have revised my theory from the results that you got with Leonard earlier this year, it will be interesting to see what she comes up with."


	8. Placebo

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 8, Amy joins the group.**_

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Six months later Amy and Sheldon were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, Amy was fully integrated into the social group. She was particularly close to her "bestie" Leslie, they had a special bond as female PhD scientists in a largely male dominated world.

Amy, with some of her neuroscience colleagues, did a study of Raj and his brain. By replacing alcohol with a harmless placebo Raj gradually became able to talk to women. Amy was the first unrelated woman Raj was able to talk to without being drunk, consequently Amy and Raj became close friends.

Leslie's student Rebecca was starting to make real progress with her work based on Sheldon's theory, by the end of her second year she had plenty of very exciting results. Sheldon had completely given up on String Theory and was working on theory in step with Leslie and Rebecca's results.

By the end of Rebecca's fourth year she has enough results and was busy writing up her PhD thesis. By now researchers all over the world were developing Sheldon's original theoretical idea into a previously unknown field of Physics.

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Leslie and Sheldon were waiting like nervous "academic parents" for Rebecca to emerge from her PhD thesis defence examination. Then Rebecca emerged with a huge grin on her face and said "I did it" and joined Leslie and Sheldon in a group hug.

Sheldon said "congratulations Dr. Rodriguez."

Leslie said "fantastic Doctor, go and celebrate."

Sheldon "we will see you tomorrow morning when you start your postdoc..."


	9. Volleyball

_**In this TBBT universe Howard and Leslie stay together as a couple after 2.16. Story starts towards the end of season 2. Part 9, epilogue.**_

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Five years after Rebecca Rodriguez got her PhD Professor Leslie Winkle and her husband Howard Wolowitz are waiting with Professor Sheldon Cooper and his wife Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler. It is 3.00am in the Wolowitz-Winkle household.

Howard "Anyone need more tea or coffee?"

Sheldon "Hmm, absolutely not, no. The Nobel Committee will be making the calls to inform the winners at any minute, so the only drug I need is the endorphins pumping in my brain in anticipation of our victory."

Amy "Well, technically anticipations wouldn't be mediated by endorphins as much as dopamine, but, you know, you've been up all night so I'll give you that one. (Sheldon is asleep) Really? The second he stops talking?"

Howard "Well, should we wake him up?"

Leslie "Well, he did say if he fell asleep, we were allowed to slap him awake."

Howard "Oh boy."

Leslie "Wait a minute. Why do you get to do it?"

Howard "Cause I called it."

Leslie "Well, you can't just call it. You have to earn it."

Howard** "**Oh, and you earned it"

Leslie** "**No one has earned it more than me."

Amy "Umm."

Leslie** "**You have your whole life to smack him around. This is my time."

Howard "Fine. Don't miss."

Leslie** "**It's not volleyball. I can handle it."

Howard "Oh, wait, hang on. When you're old, you'll gonna want a record of this."

Leslie "Oh, oh yeah. Do it in slow-mo. I want to see his cheeks wrinkle."

Howard "Ready, go."

(Phone rings) Sheldon "It's happening! It has to be them.

Leslie "Okay, put it on speaker."

Sheldon "What do you want Leonard"

Leonard "We were just calling to see if you'd heard."

Sheldon** "**We haven't."

Leslie "But thank you for getting up so early to call. That was very thoughtful."

Penny "Oh, please. We have two little kids. We've been up for an hour."

Leonard "Did anyone get to slap Sheldon?"

Howard "No."

Penny "Okay, well call us when you hear."

Amy** "**All right, now what?"

Sheldon** "**Oh, why don't we play a game to pass the time? Here. I'm thinking of a number. Hint: It's a cube of a cube of a prime."

Howard "There's an infinite number of possibilities."

Sheldon** "**So, you got somewhere else to be?"

[Phone rings.] Leslie "Oh, that's me. Hello? Yes, this is Professor Winkle. I see, Okay, thank you. We won Dumbass!"

Amy [Gasps] Congratulations!

Howard "Oh, wow!"

Sheldon "We did it!"

Leslie "I know. Can you believe it?"

Sheldon "That's a good point. What if I'm dreaming? [Leslie slaps him.] We won the Nobel Prize!"

Group hug and everyone screaming!


End file.
